When it comes to mobile games, the traditional publishers have been selective about their commitment of resources. Primarily, the way into the mobile space has been via partnerships, licensing agreements, or timid toe-dipping via internally created product. [br][br][br]Today, during his GDC Mobile keynote address, John Batter--the former general manager of Electronic Arts' Los Angeles studio who last year segued into his current position as EA Mobile GM--put the industry on notice of EA commitment to dive into the mobile sector. [br][br]"The last time you checked, EA wasn't in the business," Batter said. But after "dipping our toes" in the sector via two internally produced mobile titles, Tiger Woods and FIFA products, the shrinkwrap powerhouse is ready to implement an aggressive strategy, according to Batter. [br][br]The most tangible evidence of that strategy is the upcoming internally produced mobile title, Need For Speed Underground, the first game in a flight of an unspecified number of mobile games that will tap between 15 and 20 additional Electronic Arts franchises this year. Bottom line, dozens of EA products are on the way. [br][br]"Community and quality will drive growth" for Electronic Arts in the mobile space, Batter told an audience of about 700 attendees that packed an enormous conference room at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center. [br][br]Introduced by GDC Mobile Symposium co-chair, Robert Tercek, the chief marketing officer mobile game publisher Mforma, what Batter had to say was both encouraging and provocative. [br][br]"When the consumer loves what we're doing, we're all going to make a ton of money," he said at one point in the presentation. Of course, what many in attendance recognized is when EA enters a market, they don't always do it to create benefit for all; they often do so to dominate. [br][br]"They are moving in [to the mobile sector] and it's going to change everything," one small-sized mobile game developer said on the condition of anonymity. Another comment, from a high-ranking official of a triple-A publisher expressed awe at the strategic perspective Batter revealed. "I'm impressed with their understanding of what it takes to succeed," the executive said. [br][br]Long-known as consummate strategists, Batter said EA would apply what it had learned in the traditional marketplace to mobile. The focus will be on services; community, via enabling a shared experience through the game; the addressing of digital rights management (DRM) issues; and an ongoing connection with the consumer via a dedicated live team who would design and implement new content and provide ongoing customer service. [br][br]"We will be franchise-focused and connected, allowing the consumer to interact anytime, anyplace," Batter said. "It's not about genre," he added, "but about building a community around a franchise consumers are passionate about." [br][br]Batter said he expects PSP-like quality on mobile handsets in 2006 or 2007 at the latest, and is focused on extending the game experience EA is known for--exemplified by what he calls "the Madden Experience," to pull one gem out of his hat--and extend it across all platforms, including mobile. [br][br]Overall, Batter is intent on building out his now 30-plus person department and focusing on delivering "quality content to a new platform." With EA's bankroll, as well as its suite of franchises waiting to make it to mobile handsets, he has an opportunity to make quite an entrance. ...

Nintendo has announced midnight openings at five Virgin Megastores across the United Kingdom this week to mark the launch of the Nintendo DS on Friday 11th March priced £99.[br][br]The Oxford Street branch in London, the 235 Buchanan Street branch in Glasgow, the Pavillion Centre store in Birmingham, the Tops Plaza store in Liverpool and the Queens Street store in Cardiff will all open at midnight to let gamers get hold of the handheld for the first time.[br][br]The first through the door at each location will receive a T-shirt indicating theirs is special, while the next fifty will receive an "I was TOUCHED by Nintendo DS" T-shirt. The first fifty at the Oxford Street branch will also receive a special Nintendo DS goody bag, with free games being given out while stocks last.[br][br]One lucky attendee will even win an all-expenses-paid trip to Nintendo's headquarters in Japan where they will get to meet Shigeru Miyamoto.[br][br]Nintendo DS launches across Europe this Friday with a launch line-up of some 15 titles, headlined by the likes of critically acclaimed Super Mario 64 DS. ...

Multi-entertainment handheld Gizmondo will launch on 19th March in the UK, the company has confirmed today.[br][br]The talented machine, which can be used as a phone and comes with a contract-free SIM card, will retail at £229 and will mainly be available from Gizmondo's flagship London store, at 175 Regent Street.[br][br]"Gizmondo is the British challenger in a market that will witness a spectacular boom this year," said Carl Freer, Gizmondo's MD. "We've been able to introduce exciting new features like GPS into gaming, and with such a remarkable list of features, the Gizmondo is the most powerful, feature-laden piece of multi-entertainment hardware available."[br][br]Games, including Conflict: Vietnam and Richard Burns Rally, will cost between £9.99 and £29.99.[br][br]Running on WindowsCE, Gizmondo sports a range of features including MMS, a camera, GPRS networking, an MP3 player and MPEG-4 movie playback. It even contains a GPS chip.[br][br]But despite the feature-heavy spec of the machine, Gizmondo is facing very high profile competition, certainly in gaming terms, from the release this week of Nintendo DS and the upcoming launch of PSP in Europe.[br][br]We'll have more in Gizmondo's launch next week. ...

Vilmos updated his port of MAME that works on the Tapwave Zodiac console and Pocket PCs to v009, heres whats new:[br][br] The loader is spiffed up a bit. (Thanks Antiriad!) You also return to the search you had previously entered. I also fixed a memory leak.[br]Core: Got more games working and made a change to screen size. Some games had double size in one direction. So I've changed it so that the display is made from the visible screen size. This seems to work well, I didn't find any games broken because of it but there must be some! [br][br]Download Here ...

Tetris DS the first homebrew game for the Nintendo DS by DesktopMan has been updated and its possible to have 2 players at the same time on one Nintendo DS now.[br][br]Download game and source from Here ...

Skeezix has updated his Atari ST emulator for the GP32 console, heres whats new:[br][br] CaSTaway/GP Release 16.1 -- Slight savestate file naming improvement, double click with mouse works again; need to fix floppy formatting/etc (broken for 15.0 and later) [br][br]Download Here ...

UK importer of consoles like Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, GBAx.com have posted this news:[br][br] More DS price drops! DS + Jap Mario64 + Charger from £96.89! ...

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has admitted that the next-generation Revolution format's unique design could alienate third party publishers, although he hopes that it will instead inspire them.[br][br]In a recent print interview, Iwata-san said that if third parties were able to continue creating gorgeous, traditional games on rival next-generation formats and continue to expand their audiences that way, they "may not support Nintendo".[br][br]However it seems that Nintendo instead expects publishers to realise that Revolution's strength lies in forging new markets. "What we are trying to do is such a different thing, and people have come to realise that the approach we have taken with Nintendo DS can actually expand the market beyond what existing platforms can do," he said.[br][br]"Therefore I believe there should be more third parties who are willing to support Nintendo's new ideas."[br][br]"Already publishers are not hesitant in disclosing their concerns over next-generation gaming platforms, and development costs are rising. Publishers are afraid... of whether [the next-gen] consoles can appeal to people who are not the avid game fans of today," he added.[br][br]Nintendo Revolution will be unveiled to some extent at the E3 trade show in Los Angeles in May. ...

Microsoft's newfound troika of Japanese development heroes will be given total creative freedom in bringing their ideas to Xbox 2 according to Microsoft Game Studios general manager Shane Kim.[br][br]"We always give our partners almost all of the license that they need. We don't want to tell any of our partners what kind of game they should be making," Kim said of Microsoft's recent announcements that Hironobu Sakaguchi, Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Yoshiki Okamoto were all working on Xbox 2 titles.[br][br]Using Tetsuya Mizuguchi as an example, Kim said the creative genius behind the likes of Rez and Space Channel 5 has "a great idea for a title, we love it, we want to get behind him, and I'm confident that it's going to be successful for us both in Japan and outside."[br][br]Kim admitted that Microsoft's deal with the three developers was not exclusive, but insisted "they are going to be pretty focused on the Xbox titles," and called it "a big decision" for them to commit.[br][br]Although Sakaguchi-san last week spoke of his aims for the two RPGs his Mistwalker team will be producing, Kim wouldn't be drawn on the number or nature of the titles, stating only that the bigwigs "don't want to be doing 'me too' titles," and were instead questing after "that compelling idea".[br][br]The other thing Microsoft wants is "a passion for the platform", Kim said. "They've got to be passionate about wanting to tie their cart to our horse, and they've got to be passionate that the platform is going to enable them, whether it's Xbox or Xbox Live, for example, to help them realize their creative visions," he added.[br][br]As far as the Japanese market is concerned, however, many commentators would argue that the three developers are horses to the Xbox 2 cart rather than the other way round.[br][br]Nevertheless, it's still a major step for Microsoft in the Far East - as you might imagine given that the Japanese-focused announcements have been the company's first official word on next-generation software.[br][br]Kim echoed that sentiment. "When guys of this stature are working with Microsoft and Xbox, it really does help to validate what we've been saying and what we're going to be doing there," he concluded. ...